About the Institute
Founded in 2017, the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance (IURIF) aims to advance research and engagement on strategic issues of infrastructure investment across urban and rural areas. It promotes and amplifies the scholarship in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in multiple areas of expertise, including state and local public finance, infrastructure sustainability, and urban and regional affairs.
IURIF's goal is to address critical challenges we face in the collective provision of infrastructure. The challenges are both immediate and long term, across geography and beyond national boundaries. We are cognizant that transportation infrastructure and its financing has great impact on the equitable distribution of its benefits. With IURIF as a platform and equity as a central axis, we will contribute to the policy discourse by:
- Demystifying the system of infrastructure finance and capital budget decisions
- Enhancing the understanding of value creation through infrastructure development
- Raising the awareness of urgent infrastructure needs and the associated consequences
- Facilitating informed decision making with data, analyses, and the exchange of ideas
- Engaging the public and communities in collaborative knowledge building and deliberative problem solving
The center's research is focused on two areas: fiscal research and state and local policy. The research scope of IURIF includes not only physical infrastructure assets such as transportation, water, environmental facilities, and other utilities, but also social infrastructure assets that include education, public housing, and public safety.
In 2021, the State and Local Policy Program (SLPP) merged with IURIF. SLPP was founded in 1991 to help policy leaders and citizens understand how changes in the global economy, technology, and the workplace affect communities.
Fiscal Research
The work of the fiscal research team includes examining infrastructure finance, capital budgeting practices, and infrastructure impacts. Most of the analysis is developed for the U.S. context, but there is some research in the international context. Learn more about fiscal research efforts
State and Local Policy
The work of the state and local policy team includes research around teleworking, community-based transportation, and autonomous vehicles. Learn more about state and local policy efforts
Adeel Lari Retires
We offer thanks and best wishes to Adeel Lari, who retired earlier this summer from his position as researcher and director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Infrastructure Finance. Lari has been with the Humphrey School for two decades, coming here after 30 years with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Throughout his career, Lari studied, advocated, and implemented innovative transportation initiatives in Minnesota in areas such as transportation finance, telework, and autonomous vehicles—all of which benefited the traveling public and provided material for further research in Minnesota as well as nationally and internationally. As Lari begins his retirement, he'll maintain his affiliation with IURIF as an affiliated scholar!
